Austin Lewter/Jefferson Jimplecute
The fact that you are able read my columns coupled with the fact that I draw a paycheck, in part, for writing them both validate the assertion that I am a professional writer.
I am someone who actually makes a living by the written word.
Granted, I haven’t published any novels yet, but I am a writer by profession.
Maintaining a newspaper column forces the habit of writing often.
I was reminded this week that Ernest Hemingway once said the best training he had, as a writer, was at The Kansas City Star, because he had to write 5,000 words, no matter how hung over he was.
He had to produce. A newspaper deadline forces that.
This world is full of people who long for the opportunity to draw a paycheck for the art of writing.
It’s a privilege and one I don’t take for granted.
I would not be in such a position were it not for a lot of help along the way.
In honor of Teacher Appreciation Week having come and gone last week, there are several people I need to thank for having geared me in this direction.
I’d like to thank Laurie Davenport for teaching me that I can write.
She was my fourth grade teacher.
That was the year we began learning how ideas should transition into sentences. Sentences into paragraphs and paragraphs into pages.
She showed us the basics and nurtured those of us that had the ability.
I remember earning a “4”— the highest grade attainable— on the writing portion of that year’s standardized test.
Until this day, I remember vividly thinking, ‘This is something I can do.’
If not for Mrs. Davenport, I would have not come to this realization.
I’d like to thank Catherine Cunningham for teaching me how to write.
She was my 6th and 8th grade English teacher.
She took kids with natural writing talent and developed ability and technique.
The first piece I ever had published in a newspaper was a letter to the editor protesting a School Board that unjustly terminated her employment.
That was the end of my 8th grade year.
I’d like to thank Becky Latham for teaching me to be passionate about multiple forms of writing.
She was my English teacher for three of my four years in high school.
She taught us about prose and poetry and drama and all the creative ways we could express ourselves through writing.
I started writing songs in high school due in part to her encouragement
I’d like to thank Allin Means for teaching me how to make a living as a writer.
He was my journalism adviser in college.
He gave me a job on the student newspaper and taught me how to make my stories marketable to publishers and valuable to community readers.
I’d like to thank Jacquita Lewter for teaching me to be a better writer.
She was my grandmother and co-worker. She was the best copy editor I ever had and one of the best feature writers anyone ever had the privilege to read.
I miss her daily and would like to think, looking back, that I taught her as much as she taught me along the way.
We had that a kind of a relationship and it was wonderful.
I’d like to thank Tommy Thomason for teaching me how to help others be better writers.
His remarkable work at the Texas Center for Community Journalism benefitted greatly a young editor from North Texas who was lacking a sense of purpose in his career.
And I’d like to thank John Allen Hendricks for teaching me how to teach others to be writers.
He is the dedicated department chair who, not once— but twice welcomed me back into his graduate school program after having withdrawn two different times because life got in the way.
His encouragement made all the difference.
Without these people, I don’t know what I’d be today.
Last week was Teacher Appreciation Week, so take a moment to reflect upon those teachers who made a difference for you along the way.
If you still can, reach out. Let them know.
Your thanks will mean the world to them.
Austin Lewter is the co-publisher of The Jefferson Jimplecute. He can be reached at jeffersonjimplecute@gmail.com.